There is an idea that the canonization of the Bible was ordained by the Most High. But is this true and if not what books should we be Reading?
Below I will be highlighting the books that we read here and why you should be doing the same. I will look at the history of the canon of scriptures and you will see clearly how valid they really are…
Important that we remember that salvation is a personal affair. Which means it’s our job to be diligent and read all the scripture available to make our path to salvation easier. Let’s not forget that scriptures tell us to study to show ourselves approved without shame (2 Timothy 2:15).
Before I begin highlighting the different books that are Canon it’s important to understand that keeping the Commandments is the most important thing.
The Commandments can be found in the five books of Moses and the Prophets and the New Testament. Reading and delving deep into historic events of the scriptures is not for everybody, but keeping the Commandments is…
I will be looking at the Catholic Bishops who established the Canon of biblical books, which are the books that come from Catholicism.
What Is The Canon?
Define what a Canon is. A Canon is a set of books that are established as authoritative within a religious organisation.
In this case we are talking about the Bible and the 66 books that we have been left with which most people believe govern Christianity.
The Significance Of The 39th Festal Letter Of Athanasius
Let’s look immediately at one of the church Bishops who was responsible for the Canon. The Festal letters were letters written every year by the Bishops of Alexandria. There are 45 Festal letters.
The 39th letter written 367 AD was in agreement with the Council of Nicaea and announced the introduction of Easter and the biblical Canon.
In any case any organisation that induces Easter definitely shouldn’t have the authority to determine which books we should be reading.
There is no mention of Easter in the scriptures and the “word” easter we find in the scriptures is a mistranslation of the word “Pasach” and should be Passover.
At this point any true believer should understand that the Canon is not to be taken serious.
The 39th Festal Letter Of Athanasius Lists the following books as Canon:
The Old Testament with 22 books like Jewish tradition.
It adds the Book of Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, but removes the Book of Esther.
And in the New Testament the 27 books we have in the 66 book bible are present.
He also recommends some Apocrypha books as recommended reading, here are the following books:
Book of Wisdom,
Sirach,
the Book of Esther,
Judith,
the Book of Tobit,
the Teaching of the Apostles,
Shepherd of Hermas
Canon Of the Catholic Bible
Below you can see 74 books that are read today in the Catholic Church which is totally different from 66 that we have as Canon.
All these books can be found on the United States conference of catholic bishops website here.
Septuagint Bible Books
Now let’s look at a more authentic source of the biblical books which comes from the Septuagint.
These are the books that were translated by Hebrews at the time he spoke Greek. they translated the books to preserve them. All of this was done under Greek and Roman rule.
Today these would be considered the Old Testament scriptures of the Hebrews. As you can see there are more than 47 books in fact there are 67 Books…
Now if we add that to the 27 New Testament books there are 91 books.
The question is do you want to read 74 or 66 books that are being established by organisations which have no authority to do so, or read all the Hebrew scriptures that are available, translated by Hebrews.
Take a look at who the real Jews are here.
The Pseudepigrapha Books
Pseudepigrapha means “False” books and this is a way of demonizing these books. Remember we have to always go back to the fact that the people titling these books are not Hebrews so there titles will always hold bias.
You can get these books on Amazon here.
…And you can read many of these books free online: https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/index.htm
The key to reading scriptures is to study to show yourself approved as we are told. If you are doing a real informed study you will see which books contradict the books found in the Septuagint.
King James 1611 Bible And Apocrypha
If you want a bible equipped with many of the Apocrypha books and the Old and New Testament books a king James 1611 bible is perfect. It has 14 apocrypha books that were originally a part of the King James bible.
Alternatively if you already have a Bible with 66 books you can by an Apocrypha separately.
We recommend the “New standard revised version” because it has hidden verses found in the book of Esdras about the after life. You can read about that here.
The Bible Books You Should Be Reading
We recommend that you read all the books that you find in the Septuagint. There are also books titled which should be read for a complete picture of the scriptures these include:
The Book Of Jubilees
The Book Of Enoch
The Book Of Jasher
The Book Of Mormons
The Book OF Adam And Eve
Conclusion
The point of this article is to allow you to see that there are many books that have been taken away from the scriptures without the permission of the most high.
Clearly by looking at the different denominations and the books that they include and exclude it’s clear to see the Canon is not a credible way to judge which books are valid.
You can read a lot of these books here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/index.htm
Shalom! And share this with someone that needs it.